STMicroelectronics AI-enabled automotive inertial measurement unit

ST’s new automotive IMU contains a 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyroscope and draws less than 800µA with both sensors running, cutting the system power budget and encouraging use in always-aware applications. In-sensor AI leverages the built-in machine-learning core (MLC) and finite state machine (FSM), offloading the host processor and enabling low-latency, energy-efficient event detection and classification. The extended temperature range gives flexibility to deploy smart sensors containing the ASM330LHHXG1 in harsh locations including near engine components, in direct sunlight, or whenever on-board power dissipation might increase the temperature above standard operating levels.

With the integrated MLC and FSM, the ASM330LHHXG1 handles applications that need fast and deterministic response with minimal power demand. These include navigation assistance and telematics, theft prevention, impact detection, and motion-activated functions.

ST’s MEMS ecosystem helps accelerate evaluation, prototyping and development with the ASM330LHHXG1, leveraging Unico-GUI and AlgoBuilder tools and MEMS-sensor adapter boards (STEVAL-MKI243A). Also, engineers can find ready-to-use application examples at ST’s GitHub repository area. The MLC repository contains use cases such as tilt, towing, and vehicle-status detection. The FSM repository has further inspiration including motion/stationary detection and shake detection.

While the IMU has dual operating modes that let designers optimise the data-update rate and power consumption, the accelerometer and gyroscope maintain high stability over time and temperature. The accelerometer has a selectable full-scale range of ±2/±4/±8/±16g, while the gyroscope’s angular rate can be set to ±125, ±250, ±500, ±1000, ±2000, or ±4000 degrees per second.